This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/13/world/asia/anticipating-strong-mandate-for-modi-indias-stock-market-surges.html
The article has changed 7 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Anticipating Strong Mandate for Modi, India’s Stock Market Surges | Anticipating Strong Mandate for Modi, India’s Stock Market Surges |
| (about 3 hours later) | |
| NEW DELHI — India’s stock market surged to a record high on Monday on expectations that the country’s parliamentary election will deliver a strong mandate for the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Narendra Modi, a Hindu nationalist who has promised to create manufacturing jobs and overhaul the country’s infrastructure. | |
| Exit polls released late in the day of the last round of voting suggested that the B.J.P. coalition could receive more than 272 of the lower house’s 545 seats, enough to allow Mr. Modi to form a government without forging a coalition with fractious regional power brokers. | Exit polls released late in the day of the last round of voting suggested that the B.J.P. coalition could receive more than 272 of the lower house’s 545 seats, enough to allow Mr. Modi to form a government without forging a coalition with fractious regional power brokers. |
| However, India’s exit polls are not always reliable, having incorrectly predicted a B.J.P. coalition victory in 2004, when the Indian National Congress won by a comfortable margin, and vastly underestimated the Congress’s winning margin in 2009. The official vote count will take place on Friday. | However, India’s exit polls are not always reliable, having incorrectly predicted a B.J.P. coalition victory in 2004, when the Indian National Congress won by a comfortable margin, and vastly underestimated the Congress’s winning margin in 2009. The official vote count will take place on Friday. |
| Voter turnout exceeded 66 percent, according to the election commission, even before Monday’s voters were included in the polls, setting a new benchmark for Indian elections. The previous record, of around 64 percent, was set in 1984, during a wave of emotion that followed the assassination of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. | Voter turnout exceeded 66 percent, according to the election commission, even before Monday’s voters were included in the polls, setting a new benchmark for Indian elections. The previous record, of around 64 percent, was set in 1984, during a wave of emotion that followed the assassination of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. |
| Mr. Modi, 63, has cast himself as an outsider to the world of Delhi elites, highlighting his working-class origins and tapping into growing frustration with the Congress party, and the Gandhi Nehru political dynasty that has controlled the party since India’s independence in 1947. In an interview published on Monday, he promised that he would come to power without “hangers-on or darbaris,” a Hindi word that translates as “courtiers.” | |
| “I am the chief minister of a prosperous state in India, but my mother takes an auto-rickshaw to the polling booth on the day of voting,” he said. “Look at what is happening in the capital — Delhi is being controlled by a cabal that has vested interests in the status quo. I will break the status quo.” | “I am the chief minister of a prosperous state in India, but my mother takes an auto-rickshaw to the polling booth on the day of voting,” he said. “Look at what is happening in the capital — Delhi is being controlled by a cabal that has vested interests in the status quo. I will break the status quo.” |
| As the campaign entered its final weeks, Mr. Modi appeared confident of winning, and at rallies — highly charged affairs that attract throngs of young men — he began to focus his remarks on the need for a large margin of victory, saying he needed a large mandate to bring change to India. | As the campaign entered its final weeks, Mr. Modi appeared confident of winning, and at rallies — highly charged affairs that attract throngs of young men — he began to focus his remarks on the need for a large margin of victory, saying he needed a large mandate to bring change to India. |
| “If a vehicle is stuck in the mud, and the mud is strong, no matter how hard you push, you cannot pull it out,” he said at a rally in the city of Roorkee last weekend. “If the whole country is in a deep ditch, I need strength, dear brothers and sisters, I need 300 seats to get it out.” | “If a vehicle is stuck in the mud, and the mud is strong, no matter how hard you push, you cannot pull it out,” he said at a rally in the city of Roorkee last weekend. “If the whole country is in a deep ditch, I need strength, dear brothers and sisters, I need 300 seats to get it out.” |
| “Will I get it? Will I get it?” he asked, as the crowd roared its assent. Jai Pal Singh, a reporter following the campaign for the Voice of the Nation, said voters’ expectations of Mr. Modi were so high that they could prove dangerous if they are not met. | “Will I get it? Will I get it?” he asked, as the crowd roared its assent. Jai Pal Singh, a reporter following the campaign for the Voice of the Nation, said voters’ expectations of Mr. Modi were so high that they could prove dangerous if they are not met. |
| “If the results are not up to the mark, if there will not be a drastic change in life — what shall I say — the emotions will break,” Mr. Singh said. “He is a dynamic person. The way he speaks, when he says, ‘I will do it,’ they believe him.” | “If the results are not up to the mark, if there will not be a drastic change in life — what shall I say — the emotions will break,” Mr. Singh said. “He is a dynamic person. The way he speaks, when he says, ‘I will do it,’ they believe him.” |
| After Monday’s exit polls suggested that the Congress party’s share of parliamentary seats might fall below 100, party officials said that the polling results were unreliable. In a television appearance, the party spokesman Randeep Surjewala said that Mr. Modi’s campaign had stirred up tensions between Hindus and Muslims. | |
| “He may have managed to get some support in some pockets, but in the long term it is India which lost because of this rabid polarization,” Mr. Surjewala said. | |
| Markets, however, responded positively. Since December, when four state assembly elections pointed to the likelihood of a national B.J.P. victory, stock market indexes have risen about 12 percent. That trend continued on Monday, when the Sensex index surged 556 points to 23,551, and the 50-share Nifty benchmark climbed to a record 7,020.05 points. The Indian rupee also rose to 59.51 per dollar, its strongest level since July. | |
| Amisha Vora, joint managing director at Prabhudas Lilladher Group, a Mumbai-based brokerage, said the last term of the Congress-led governing coalition was marred by indecision, as minority coalition partners blocked reforms, and that markets were reacting positively to the prospect that Mr. Modi “will have a lot of discretion to make policy changes.” | Amisha Vora, joint managing director at Prabhudas Lilladher Group, a Mumbai-based brokerage, said the last term of the Congress-led governing coalition was marred by indecision, as minority coalition partners blocked reforms, and that markets were reacting positively to the prospect that Mr. Modi “will have a lot of discretion to make policy changes.” |
| Investors anticipate that power will be highly centralized in a new government, largely because of Mr. Modi’s reputation in Gujarat, the prosperous state he has led for 13 years. | Investors anticipate that power will be highly centralized in a new government, largely because of Mr. Modi’s reputation in Gujarat, the prosperous state he has led for 13 years. |
| “I wouldn’t say that it is the B.J.P. regime that the markets are so bullish about,” Ms. Vora said. “At this point of time it seems that they are rather bullish about Mr. Modi.” | “I wouldn’t say that it is the B.J.P. regime that the markets are so bullish about,” Ms. Vora said. “At this point of time it seems that they are rather bullish about Mr. Modi.” |